Deshaun Watson has just one shot to make it in the NFL and thanks to the NFL Media Group’s exclusive inside access, Watson’s road to the NFL Draft will be documented for every Clemson fan to see along the way.
Arguably Clemson’s best player of all-time, had his mini-show, Deshaun Watson’s “One Shot,” debut on the NFL Network’s NFL Total Access on Thursday.
“Whoever takes me is going to be blessed,” Watson said on the show. “I can lead a franchise. I am a franchise guy, and the cream is going to rise to the top.”
The debut show takes the viewer from the moment Watson threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow in the national championship game to his first few days in Los Angeles as he begins training with quarterback coach Jordan Palmer.
“It has been a whirlwind,” Watson said in the mini documentary. “From the last game in Death Valley to the national championship, it’s just been crazy.”
Deshaun Watson’s “One Shot” will air each week on the NFL Total Access. This week’s episode showed Watson going back to his Gainesville, Ga., home as he packed for his trip to Los Angeles. You can see the show again tonight when NFL Access re-airs at 11 p.m.
“I’m just a simple kid from Gainesville, Georgia,” Watson said in the piece. “I just finished an amazing college career. Today I’m starting a new chapter.”
“I’m leaving home and going across country to get ready for the biggest job interview of my life,” he later continued. “There is a lot at stake here and I only get one shot.”
Watson relays several times in the story how he only has one shot to make this right.
“I’m a professional now so I’m trying to be the best professional I can be,” he said.
“I was playing for the national championship last Monday and now, a week later, I’m here in LA getting ready to start a new journey at the professional level.”
Watson, who has dreamed since he was a little boy of playing in the NFL, talked about how there is more to football that just what he does on the field. He says that is about 10 percent of what really goes on behind the scenes.
“I’m just making sure that each day counts,” Watson said.
He did just that at Clemson. Watson put up record numbers, while guiding the Tigers to consecutive College Football Playoff appearances, and the school’s second National Championship. He led the Tigers to 28 wins over his final two seasons and was a two-time Heisman Finalist.
Watson compiled a 32-3 record as a starter, best winning percentage in school history for a quarterback and finished college career third in ACC history in total offense (12,094), while throwing for 10,163 yards and 90 career touchdowns. He is ranked first in Clemson history in career completion percentage (.674), passing efficiency (157.5) and total offense per game (318.3).
“This is a guy whose ceiling is incredibly high and all I’m trying to do is raise this floor over the next 10 weeks,” Palmer said in the documentary.
In his Clemson career, Watson passed for 16 fourth-quarter touchdowns with only two interceptions. He guided the Tigers to four fourth-quarter or overtime victories this past fall, while throwing the game winning touchdown in all four games.
“He has lofty goals, and those goals are not on draft day,” Palmer said. “All of his goals are the goals at the end of his rookie year so we are getting ready to have a phenomenal rookie year.”
Watson’s success just wasn’t on the field at Clemson, he is believed to be the first quarterback in FBS history to pass 37 credit hours in the classroom and throw 35 or more touchdown passes in the same academic year (2015-16). The two-time team MVP, and 2015 ACC Player of the Year, was also a two-time All-ACC Academic Team selection.
“I just won a national championship, but I have to go prove myself all over again,” Watson said.
“I only get one shot at this, and I am not going to miss.”
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